Creating, Publishing, and Sharing Artistic Work

Read this article in French:
Publier ses œuvres fait-il désormais partie du travail de l’artiste ?

A Scene from Everyday Life:

You go online.
You publish a visual artwork you have created, accompanied by a poem you have written.
The image is an artistic creation. So is the poem.

But what about the act of publishing them?
Is that also part of your work as an artist?

For a long time, much of the responsibility for bringing artworks to the public rested with cultural intermediaries. Gallery owners presented the works of painters and sculptors. Publishing houses published the writings of poets and other writers. Other individuals and institutions helped make these creations known and connect them with audiences.

These forms of cultural mediation still exist. Artists have also always played a role, to varying degrees, in promoting and sharing their work. But with the development of the Web and self-publishing, the possibilities have multiplied.

Artists can now publish their work directly, without necessarily going through a gallery or publishing house. They can also create their own publishing spaces and manage part of how their work reaches the public.

Their work, then, is no longer limited to creating art.

They also wear a second hat: that of managing their presence and the dissemination of their work.

Organizing projects, building relationships, preparing publications, managing a website, and contributing to the circulation of their creations: all these activities can now occupy an important place in their artistic practice.

And a website can become much more than a promotional showcase. It can bring together artworks, texts, images, videos, and artistic collections. When their organization and the relationships between these creations reflect an artistic intention, the website itself can become a space for artistic creation: a website-as-artwork.

This reality also applies to cinema, music, dance, theatre, and other art forms, even though the means of dissemination vary across disciplines.

Artists do not necessarily have to choose between traditional cultural intermediaries and direct publishing. These paths can complement one another.

Creating artworks remains at the heart of an artist’s work. But actively participating in their dissemination is becoming increasingly important.

Whatever path they choose, the ultimate goal is to enable their creations to contribute to global culture.

📚 All Micro-essays

This text is part of the Understanding Today’s Culture series, a chronicle of our global networked culture.

→ Return to the Micro-essays page

Explore Further

🟦 Why Do Some Human Traces Endure Through Time?

🟦 Why Do We Still Need Artists?

🟦 Algorithmic Artwork-Site — Inhabiting the Network as Artistic Space

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© Gilles Vallée | Humanist Digital Artist, Poet, Sculptor